The European Union is imposing a conditional transaction ban on Georgia’s Kulevi oil refinery to take effect in six months unless reassessed as part of its 21st Russia sanctions package that was adopted on July 23 and also includes sanctions on crypto-related service platforms based, among others, in Georgia.
The transaction ban on Kulevi oil refinery, located at the Black Sea coast in Western Georgia and operated by Black Sea Petroleum, a company owned by Georgian businesswoman Maka Asatiani, is set to take effect in six months, but the listing may be revised following the Commission’s assessment.
The move marks the first such major inclusion of Georgian entities in measures imposed in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“The package creates the possibility to prohibit transactions with listed refineries in Russia and in third countries which process or refine Russian crude oil and petroleum products. In that framework, the EU is imposing a transaction ban – entering into force in six months – on a Georgian refinery trading and processing Russian oil in Kulevi,” the Council of the EU said in its press release.
In a separate press release, the European Commission said Kulevi’s listing “will enter into force with a six-month delay to give the refinery time to diversify away from Russian crude oil,” adding that “following an assessment by the Commission, the Council will then decide whether it is still necessary to list the refinery.”
The inclusion of the refinery comes weeks after Black Sea Petroleum announced that it will begin refining “crude oil of entirely non-Russian origin” starting in August-September, saying the shift will “open doors to high-margin markets” for its products.
The Kulevi refinery, a project inaugurated in 2024 by Georgian officials as the largest private investment project in Georgia’s post-independence history, first drew controversy in October 2025, when Russian oil company Russneft supplied its first oil cargo to the facility.
The facility has since attracted scrutiny over its potential to serve as a channel for re-exporting Russian oil under a Georgian designation, with questions mounting amid journalistic investigations suggesting that Russian oil products may be reaching European countries through Georgia, particularly in light of the recorded spike in Georgia’s oil exports.
The controversy also extended to Kulevi port, which is owned and operated by Azerbaijan’s SOCAR. In March 2026, the European Union considered including the port in its proposed 20th sanctions package against Russia, but ultimately dropped the measure, citing “positive commitments” made by the Georgian authorities and the port operator.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Georgian service cited a source telling the outlet that the inclusion of Kulevi refinery marks the first time in the EU’s practice of resorting to this specific way of listing with a six-month “deadline.”
Transaction Ban on Crypto Platforms
According to the Council’s press release, the bloc “is also extending its transaction ban to 14 crypto-related service platforms based in Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus.”
Earlier, in May, the United Kingdom similarly announced sanctioning three Georgia-registered companies “operating Russia-focused exchanges seeking to evade sanctions” as part of its broader crackdown on crypto and illicit finance networks exploited by Russia to circumvent UK sanctions.
21st Sanctions Package
The Council said the 21st Russia sanctions package “includes harsh economic sanctions hitting the sectors that have the greatest impact on Russia’s economy and its ability to fuel its war of aggression against Ukraine, and the largest batch of individual listings of the last four years, totalling 218, of which 48 individuals and 170 entities.”
The inclusion of Georgia-based entities in the EU’s Russia sanctions package also follows the change of government in Hungary after Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, a close ally of Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party, lost the election in April. Hungary under Orbán was known to use its veto power to hamper EU efforts to impose restrictive measures on Tbilisi.
More to follow…
Also Read:
